Former assistant-manager suggests Lopetegui to start 26-year-old star against Manchester United | OneFootball

Edson Alvarez enjoyed a great debut season at West Ham since arriving in a £34 million move from Ajax last year. The 26-year-old quickly became a defensive midfield mainstay under former manager David Moyes, and the Hammers seemed to have brought a good replacement for former star Declan Rice as Alvarez is also a similar profile ball-winning midfielder.

However, the Mexico international doesn't possesses a great pace which was evident in the 3-0 home defeat against Chelsea, where Lopetegui played Alvarez as a third centre-back in the defence. In the following match, Alvarez received a red-card in a 5-1 Carabao Cup defeat against Liverpool, and hasn't started any match for the Hammers after that game.

Former assistant-manager suggests Lopetegui to start 26-year-old star against Manchester United

Lopetegui has played Guido Rodriguez and Carlos Soler in Alvarez's absence but the two new signings haven't been much convincing in quickly starting the build up play and bringing the ball inside the final third while going forward. On top of that, Rodriguez hasn't adapted well to the pace and athleticism required in the Premier League while Soler has mostly had to help the defence while defending a counter-attack.

Thus, West Ham don't create much good chances and key passes in the match, which has been one of the biggest reasons for their lack of goals this season. Speaking about the upcoming Manchester United match, former West Ham assistant-manager Kevin Nolan suggested that Lopetegui should bring Alvarez in the starting lineup, saying,

Nolan highlighted the recent Tottenham Hotspurs match, where West Ham didn't seemed much convincing while defending and made a lot of misplaced passes in the middle of the park. Further, Alvarez thrives in these two key areas and provides more defensive solidity to the defence while quickly advancing the ball towards Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen to create some goalscoring opportunities.

Erik Ten Hag's side have a lot of world-class forwards in their squad, thus, Alvarez can play a key role to avoid giving them much space near the edge of the box. Now, it remains to be seen whether Julen Lopetegui decides to start the 26-year-old in this massive home game.